• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Storm-Sky Preview

May 26, 2010 - 7:41 PM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Seattle (4-0) at Chicago (0-4), 8:00 p.m. EDT

Thanks to clutch plays down the stretch, the undefeated Seattle Storm are off to the best start in franchise history.

The winless Chicago Sky have not played with the same poise at the end of games, and are consequently off to their worst start.

Coming off another dramatic win, the surging Storm look to move to 5-0 when they visit the struggling Sky on Thursday night.

Seattle is the only undefeated team in the Western Conference, but could easily be at the bottom of the standings.

The Storm used a 24-7 fourth-quarter run to race past Los Angeles and win their opener 81-67 on May 16. Seattle came from behind again in a 79-76 victory over Minnesota last Wednesday, rallying from a seven-point deficit in the fourth.

At Phoenix on Saturday, Seattle withstood a late Mercury charge and won 95-89 in overtime.

In yet another comeback, the Storm rallied past Washington 82-76 on Tuesday and moved to 4-0 for the first time in franchise history.

Trailing by 10 late in the third quarter, Seattle went on a 31-10 run to go up 72-61 on Tanisha Wright's 3-pointer with 3:11 to go. The Mystics cut the lead to four with 36 seconds left, but Sue Bird made six free throws in the closing seconds to secure the win.

Bird and Wright each scored 16 points, while Lauren Jackson, who averages team highs of 20.0 points and 8.3 rebounds, had 14 points and seven boards.

Although the Storm scored 36 points in the fourth quarter - more than they had in any period last year - the team realizes it needs to stop putting itself in that position.

"I think as a core group we're putting a little more pressure on ourselves to start out of the gate a little faster," said forward Swin Cash, who averages 18.3 points. "That's definitely a point of emphasis for us."

While Seattle has been outstanding down the stretch, Chicago has struggled to make plays late in games.

The Sky (0-4) had chances at the end in each of the last three games, but lost all of them by an average of 5.7 points.

Chicago committed five turnovers in the final 4:27 of a 69-61 defeat at Indiana on Sunday. That came one day after the Sky turned the ball over twice in the final 10 seconds of overtime and fell 92-86 at home to the Fever.

"We know what we have to do as a team," said center Sylvia Fowles, who leads Chicago with 17.8 points and 9.0 rebounds a game. "It's been mental stuff. It's the simple stuff we have to crack down on."

The Sky defeated the Storm in both matchups last season. Seattle had won the first six meetings.